Sep

29

A Diverting Diversion

September 29, 2004 |

In November Missourians will vote on Constitutional Amendment 3, a proposal to end a “diversion” of gas tax money to agencies other than MoDOT, the Dept. of Transportation. Right now, other agencies like the License Bureau and Highway Patrol receive some money from the gas tax for their highway-related duties. Amendment 3 would make about $160 million more available for road work every year.

While this is probably a good idea, it is no panacea. Most transporation experts say that MoDOT needs another billion dollars a year to meet all of the state’s road needs. This proposal would only be a small drop in a big bucket, and it once again lets our political leaders off the hook. In fact, the General Assembly couldn’t even make a decision to send this amendment to voters, it had to be put on the ballot through initiative petition. Plus, no one knows where the effected agencies will get the money to replace the “diversion”.

Focusing so much attention on the diversion is actually diverting attention from fixing our larger budget and transporation problems.

EndTheDiversion.org


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Jay Feco on October 14, 2004 7:46 pm

    Is’nt this what the MO Dept. of Conservation did back in the 50’s
    The Conservation Dept. seems to work just fine. Any comments?

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